Energy management includes the planning and the operation of units related to energy technology. The goal of energy management is to satisfy the energy requirements of the user, and in particular to realize a cost-efficient and material-efficient energy supply.
In so-called decentralized energy management, the active controlling of the components of an energy circuit of an arbitrary object, such as a building or even an urban district, is supposed to be achieved in order in this way to enable the positive influencing of variables such as power costs or CO2 emissions. In this context, the term “energy” refers to all forms of energy that occur, such as electric current, heat, or mechanical work. Furthermore, it is necessary for some components included in the circuit to allow an automatic controlling. In addition, the entire circuit under consideration must be suitably modeled in order to be able to anticipate the direct consequences of such influencing.
In today's related art, information models for building control technology, and information models for network control technology outside the building, are known. The two information architectures are not linked to one another, and do not cover the requirements of decentralized energy management. For example, the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) makes reference to an incomplete reference list with regard to standards for the linkage of building automation and energy technology. Likewise, neither IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) nor IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) address the integration of the various systems in the building, such as climate control, heating, mechanical work, electric power, light, etc. These named standards, like other previously known standards, do not provide an approach to modeling.
Patent document US 2002/0082747 A1 discusses an energy management system provided for managing the production and distribution of energy from an energy source to a building. The energy management system describes energy producers and energy consumers, the energy producers being described as producers of various forms of energy such as thermal or electrical energy. The building is understood as a consumer of energy. The aim of the presented method is in particular to distribute produced energy in a suitable manner in the building, while carrying out an optimization with regard to costs.
A method is sought by which a uniform modeling of all components of an energy circuit is possible, in order to make it possible to implement an energy management, in particular a decentralized energy management.